budget

Lawmakers are inching closer to a special session as Senate leadership proposes that the Legislature convene to fix the budget woes of state agencies affected by the governor's veto.
House leadership was polling members to see if they support the idea, Senate President Bob Burns told the Arizona Capitol Times on October 22.

Arizona ranks ninth nationally in its reliance on sales taxes to fund its state and local governments, according to a report by a nonpartisan tax research organization.
The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation found that 48.4 percent of Arizona's tax base came from general sales taxes and from selective sales taxes on motor fuel, tobacco, insurance premiums, public utilities, amusements and alcoholic beverages.

What would the Governor’s Office do to reduce its budget by 15 percent? Just that – reduce it by 15 percent. Anyone seeking more details, however, is bound to be disappointed. Gov. Jan Brewer in September asked each state agency ...

Gov. Jan Brewer has acknowledged that she made mistakes as she pursued a budget deal with the Legislature, although she didn’t elaborate on exactly what they were “Obviously I did something wrong. There were mistakes made in an effort to ...

With much of its budget locked in by federal and state mandates, the Arizona Department of Health Services would have to reduce crisis services and cut back on treatment for the mentally ill, substance abusers and sexually violent offenders in the state hospital if it had to chop 15 percent from its budget.

A special session - or two - is likely this fall as Gov. Jan Brewer continues to pressure lawmakers to reconvene and legislative leaders have started asking members when they would be available.
But roadblocks remain.

The off-season for lawmakers might be even shorter than they thought.
Since Gov. Jan Brewer partially vetoed the Legislature’s budget in early September, she has been adamant about the need to bring lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session to restore funding for a handful of state agencies, including the Arizona Corporation Commission and Department of Revenue.

As they address the state's daunting challenges, leaders should follow the example of "great statesmen" who built Arizona by valuing cooperation, collaboration and compromise, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Oct. 9.

At Brewer’s request, all state agency heads were required to submit reports detailing the effects 15-20 percent spending reductions would have on their departments. Those reports, which were due Oct. 9, are intended partly to demonstrate to the Legislature that sizeable cuts would have dramatic consequences, according to Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman.

The state’s transportation department said it plans to shut down a dozen Motor Vehicle Division offices, temporarily close rest areas and defer hundreds of millions of dollars in construction as it faces a “perfect storm” of budget woes. The department ...